Arundel farmer fuming over Agriculture Bill vote

Parliament voted 328 to 277 against an amendment to the Agriculture Bill in May which would have guaranteed all imports would have to meet UK standards relating to animal welfare, food safety, and the environment.

Now farmer Caroline Harriott, who owns farmland in Arundel and Sompting, fears that means cheaper, low-quality produce will be imported into the country, undercutting British farmers.

“How can it be right to hold farmers overseas to a different standard than ours?” Ms Harriott asked. “We’re held to a high standard, quite rightly, to produce good quality food.

“If we have got cheaper products being imported, how can we survive? When someone’s looking at two bits of beef in the supermarket, they’ll go for the cheaper one.

Ms Harriott fears British farmers will be undercut by cheaper imports

“The cheaper one won’t have a label saying ‘this animal had a poor quality of life’ or ‘this animal was pumped full of chemicals’.

“The Government will need to put a standards commission in place to ensure the quality of imports.”

The farmer criticised Sussex’s Conservative MPs for voting against the amendment. All Conservatives in the county voted against the amendment in line with the Government stance.

“We had some of the West Sussex Conservatives MPs out on our farm at Sompting to show them what local farmers are producing and how sensible it would be to look after British farmers,” Ms Harriott, a National Farmers’ Union member, said.

“We wrote to all of our MPs and usually they’re very supportive.

“But they didn’t vote the amendment through. I suppose when your Prime Minister is against it you can’t vote against it. But we were worried we were going to get sold down the river.”

Ms Harriott hoped the coronavirus crisis would encourage people to value farmers more.

Arundel MP Andrew Griffith voted against the amendment

“It’s at times like these you realise how vital it is and how quickly you can go from feast to famine,” she said. “We’re custodians of the countryside and we need to be looked after. How can you look after farmers if you’re importing inferior produce?”

But Arundel MP Andrew Griffith, who voted against the amendment, said the Agriculture Bill was the wrong place to address concerns on trade.

"Before voting for a bill which the NFU itself has welcomed, I sought commitments from ministers that Sussex farmers will not face unbalanced competition in any trade deals and that none of our high environmental protection, animal welfare or food safety standards will be diminished as part of any trade agreement,” he said.

East Worthing MP Tim Loughton, West Worthing MP Sir Peter Bottomley, Bognor MP Nick Gibb, Mr Griffith, Chichester MP Gillian Keegan, Crawley MP Henry Smith, Mid Sussex MP Mims Davies, Bexhill MP Huw Merriman, Lewes MP Maria Caulfield, Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell, Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart, Wealden MP Nus Gahni, and Horsham MP Jeremy Quin all voted against the amendment on May 13.

Hove MP Peter Kyle, Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, and Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle all voted for the amendment.